WASHINGTON, D.C.– Today, U.S. Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a bipartisan Senate resolution (S.Res.23) that designates April 2019 as “Countering International Parental Child Abduction” month and instructs the federal government to educate state and local law enforcement about the issue and how to combat it.

​CONTACTS:Daniel Keylin (Tillis)| (202) 224-6342Ashley Schapitl (Feinstein) | (202) 224-9629WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to make more relentless and effective efforts to bring abducted American children back home to the United States by using all of the tools and resources at the State Department’s disposal.

WASHINGTON—Parents Jeffery Morehouse, Juan Garaicoa, and Michelle Littleton sat before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Dec. 10 to testify about the same terrible fate of their children—international abduction by a spouse.

“While most children were returning to school, my children were boarding a plane and being kidnapped to war-torn Lebanon,” Littleton, a mother of three, said.

“She had kidnapped our son to Japan,” said Morehouse, the founder and executive director of the non-profit Bring Abducted Children Home. “I don’t even know where he is being held.”

“Time is of the essence and now is the time to bring our children home,” pleaded Garaicoa, whose two children remain in Ecuador.

While the countries, children, and spouses are different, they share the same frustration of fighting to be reunited with their children in foreign lands.Morehouse won custody of his children in U.S. courts—and twice in Japan—but his teenage son, Mochi, who was taken by his wife at age 6, remains in Japan with his mother because there is no enforcement mechanism under Japanese law.​“In the end, the court refused to reunite Mochi and me,” said Morehouse.”It does not matter how a child ends up with the abductor in Japan, they will not uphold laws and treaties to return children to their rightful home.”

Jeffery Morehouse dropped his 6-year-old son off with his mother for a weeklong visit in 2010 — and she managed to abscond with him to Japan.

On Monday, Mr. Morehouse, executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home, called on Congress to step up American efforts to bring his son and other children back from overseas, saying the government’s actions are inconsistent and insufficient.​“President Trump ran on putting America first,” Mr. Morehouse said in his testimony to the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on global human rights. “Well, America first means putting American children first and bringing them home.”

"Prime Minister Abe for the past two years has spread it all over the press how President Trump and the U.S. are going to help Japan resolve the 1977-1983 kidnappings of 17 of their citizens in to North Korea. I feel for those parents. I understand their pain. It is my pain. It is our pain. We should help with that. It's the right thing to do.

President Trump ran on putting America first. Well, America first means putting American children first and bringing them home. Prime Minister Abe, what about returning the 400+ American children kidnapped to Japan since 1994? What about returning Mochi?

WASHINGTON – House Foreign Affairs subcommittee Chairman Chris Smith called on the Trump administration to take concerted action to stop international parental child abduction.

“The Trump administration can and must use current law, especially the tools embedded in the Goldman Act, to more aggressively bring American children home to their families,” Smith (R-N.J.) said at a hearing on Monday that featured testimony from parents whose children were abducted abroad.Smith said “child abduction is child abuse.”

Smith said more than 450 American children are abducted each year. He said 11,000 children were abducted internationally between 2008 and 2017.

Panelists relayed their experiences to the committee and implored action.“The last time I saw my son was on Father’s Day of 2010,” said Jeffery Morehouse, executive director of Bring Abducted Children Home.

That day, Morehouse said, he dropped off his then-6-year-old-son, Mochi Atomu Imoto Morehouse, with his ex-wife for a week-long visit. Three weeks later, Morehouse said, the police informed him that his wife and son had been reported missing.​“I knew immediately what happened,” Morehouse recalled. “She succeeded in what she had threatened to do. She kidnapped our son to Japan.”

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, have requested Attorney General Jeff Sessions detail steps the Justice Department is taking to adhere to the International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act and return U.S. citizen children to their parents. The letter follows a Judiciary Committee hearing on the issue.

The senators wrote, “Unfortunately, our review of public records suggests individuals are rarely—if ever—prosecuted under this statute. Worse still, our conversations with victims of international parental child abduction and their advocates suggests that many federal prosecutors are either unaware of the statute’s existence or do not understand the vital role the threat of prosecution can play in securing the return of abducted children. It is clear that the Department can do more with respect to IPKCA.”

The House and The Senate both held hearings on international parental child abduction in April. One of the focal points was the State Department's lack of use of the sanction tools under The Goldman Act.

​Senate Resolution 431 (S.Res.431) will create a month of awareness of for the harm caused by international parental child abduction. It will lead to greater action to #EndInternationalParentalChildAbductionLearn about the resolution here.

Helping Is Easy

1) Call the Washington, DC office for both your senators. Keep it simple:My name is ___________ I am a constituent from (city&state) and I would like to see Senator ___________ co-sponsor and vote for S.Res. 431 on creating an international parental child abduction awareness month.If you can’t reach someone at the DC office, then call the district office.​2) Motivate your friends and family to do it, too, and keep the support chain growing.

Senate Phone Numbers

On October 27, 2017 Bring Abducted Children Home Executive Director Jeffery Morehouse briefs The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission on the crime of international parental child abduction.

U.S. Congressman Chris Smith provides an impassioned plea for the return of "Mochi" Atomu Imoto Morehouse and all children kidnapped to Japan by a parent. The video was released at a May 29, 2017 press conference in Tokyo by Jeffery Morehouse and attorney Akira Ueno at the Tokyo Courthouse. (full transcript in Japanese and English follows)

Jeffery Morehouse has been tenaciously and thoughtfully trying to reunite with his kidnapped son, Mochi, since 2010.

As the chairman of the official congressional subcommittee that oversees international human rights, I invited Jeffery to testify before congress to tell his story. I was deeply moved. The love he has for his son is extraordinary—as is the suffering and pain he and Mochi endure as a result of this heartbreaking and illegal separation.

As Jeffery reported to the US Congress in 2015, he has had sole custody in the United States since 2007. This fact was also recognized as legal by the courts in Japan in 2014. Thus, it is shocking that his son has not been returned to him by the Japanese government.

I can't imagine the pain of this kind of separation, and I hear it in his words every time I see him, and that is often. He is a loving father tirelessly trying and working for return of his son.

There have been hundreds of parental abductions from the U.S. to Japan since 1994. Jeffery's case underscores a serious injustice. It is false to claim that it is “in the best interest of the child” to remain in Japan—or anywhere after being kidnapped and taken there. Child abduction is a daily, ongoing form of child abuse.

Japan is a great country with many great people. It is a friend and important ally of the United States. But, no democratic, honorable government should allow this type of criminal act to continue.

In 2011, I traveled to Japan on behalf of many American parents who simply wanted to be reunited with their children. Japanese elected officials and government officials with whom I met, agree that the forced separation is deeply damaging—both for the child and the left behind parent.

Japan as we all know has since signed the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction—signifying the government’s intention to properly resolving these child abduction cases.

But the Morehouse case, already adjudicated in the courts years ago, continues to raise troubling questions about Japan’s human rights’ record and its commitment to reuniting families.

​And so I call on my friends in the Japanese government to please take decisive action in this and other pending international child abduction cases. Please return Mochi to his loving father.

Rep. Jeff Clawson at a Congressional hearing on International Parental Child Abduction declares, "We could solve kidnapped children tomorrow. One executive order. Give our kids back or you don't get to sell your cars over here. Give our kids back or you don't get to sell your software over here."

On July 16, 2015 Bring Abducted Children Home Managing Director Randy Collins testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. "Quite frankly, State’s actions, or this case inaction, speak so loudly we can’t hear what they’re saying. I’d like this committee to insist that OCI and the State Department be far more transparent with Congress and with victimized parents. We deserve answers. Simply telling this committee that they are raising our cases means nothing. What are they saying? Who are they saying it to? What are the answers they are receiving? Are they demanding the return of our children or simply begging? Do they drop the issue just because Japan tells them it’s too difficult to return our kidnapped children? We have suffered years of secrecy from State regarding our abducted children. It’s the perfect definition of insanity, doing the same things over and over again but expecting a different result. The results haven’t changed in my seven years. We are still no closer to seeing our children today than we were before Japan joined The Hague Abduction Convention," said Collins whose son, Keisuke Collins, was kidnapped by his ex-wife to Japan in June 2008.

On June 11, 2015 attorney and Bring Abducted Children Home co-founder, Christopher Savoie, testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. "The elephant in the room is the inherent conflict of interest problem for the State Department in these abduction cases. Their primary mandate, as they see it, is to maintain good relations with strategic allies such as Japan. And this is in direct conflict with the interests of our children and the children of Japan, whose advocacy would require that the State Department to publicly shame and reprimand Japan for its complicity in these kidnappings and for its truly barbaric sole parental rights regime. A regime that violates some of the most basic human rights of parents and children alike."

On March 25, 2015 Bring Abducted Children Home Executive Director Jeffery Morehouse testified to Congress on his case and the ongoing kidnapping crisis with Japan. “Now is the time for Japan to demonstrate they are serious about changing course on the ongoing crisis of International Parental Child Abduction,” said Morehouse whose son was kidnapped to Japan his ex-wife in June 2010. “I am hear to ask Congress to tell the Prime Minister it is not acceptable to continue to hold my son, “Mochi” Atomu Imoto Morehouse or any of the 400 U.S. children kidnapped to Japan.“

Rep. Christopher Smith (NJ-4) to Secretary of State John Kerry, "Japan has been breathtakingly unresponsive especially to abductions that occurred prior to ratification of the Hague (Abduction) Convention."

At her confirmation hearing to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Caroline Kennedy, gives her commitment to promote and protect the welfare of U.S. citizens in Japan.During the hearing she is asked by Senator Ben Cardin if she will use her position to help resolve the almost 400 American cases that will not be covered under The Hague Abduction Convention.Ms. Kennedy states that as a parent she understands the emotional aspects of this issue and that she has already indicated her concerns to Bureau of Consular Affairs in a meeting in advance of the hearing.

Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representative’s held another hearing on International Parental Child Abduction. Substantive portions of the hearing focused on the Japan abduction crisis with Members of Congress calling for stronger action to return kidnapped children.

We are extremely concerned about the direction of the implementing legislation in the Japanese Diet. This is an intentional effort by ruling parties to create loopholes that will all but ensure that no child abducted in the future will be returned to their country of habitual residence. Additionally, Japan has continued to fail to address the current cases or provide aid or assistance in providing information on where children kidnapped from the U.S. and other countries are being held.

Today, by unanimous consent the United States Senate passed S. Res. 543: International Parental Child Abduction. Japan is specified by name three times for these ongoing abductions.

The resolution condemns the unlawful international abduction of all children. It also calls on the United States and the international community to take additional steps to resolve current and future abduction cases.

BAC Home directors, members and friends worked diligently since August to provide information to senate staff on the vital importance of this resolution and the ongoing crisis of International Parental Child Abduction to Japan and other countries. This condemnation by the United States Senate is not an end, but a very solid step that we will continue to build on in the coming year.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) today joined Senators Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), John Kerry (D-MA), Richard Lugar (R-IN), James Inhofe (R-OK) and 10 colleagues to introduce a bipartisan resolution condemning the unlawful international abduction of all children. The resolution also calls on the United States and the international community to take additional steps to resolve current and future abduction cases. The resolution names the top ten countries for international child abduction. Japan is specified by name three times in the resolution.

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human Rights held a hearing on "Improving Implementation of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction."Testifying are The Honorable Susan Jacobs and The Honorable Kurt Campbell.